TriggerHappyDude Posted February 25, 2009 Author Share Posted February 25, 2009 I have a noob question about ATO... So you are only supposed to top off with RO/DI water, never salt water, never tap water etc...some people use other "good" chemicals, etc...for top off, but say for instance me, I'm going to top off with RO/DI water that I create from home. After a while, of ATO with RO/DI water and not salt water, I guess I eventually have to do a water change of some sort to get the salt back into the tank, after ATO'ing for how ever long with no salt...? Meaning the salt levels or ALK goes down when doing those kinds of ATO? What can one "dose" in addition to ATO with RO/DI to add the salt or ALK back in or is that all different? Link to comment
Phixion Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Yes, RO/DI only. Not saltwater or tap, ever! remember the salt in the water won't evaporate. Test your salinity both before top-off and after and it should be slightly different you'll notice. You can dose things into the top off water, but I'd recommend dosing by itself rather than through ATO water just to be on the safe side of not accidently over-dosing the tank. Link to comment
SmittyCoco Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 I have a noob question about ATO... So you are only supposed to top off with RO/DI water, never salt water, never tap water etc...some people use other "good" chemicals, etc...for top off, but say for instance me, I'm going to top off with RO/DI water that I create from home. After a while, of ATO with RO/DI water and not salt water, I guess I eventually have to do a water change of some sort to get the salt back into the tank, after ATO'ing for how ever long with no salt...? Meaning the salt levels or ALK goes down when doing those kinds of ATO? What can one "dose" in addition to ATO with RO/DI to add the salt or ALK back in or is that all different? You are correct ! That is a newb question ! When your water evaps the salt does not. When you are using your ato you want to use pure ro/di water, no salt. Your alk and calc levels can and will deplete. Depending on your demands of what you are keeping of how fast that will be. Wc's will replenish them. If you are keeping more demanding corals then dosing can and should be introduced between wc's. Not without testing of course ! Gl ! Keep us posted. Edit: Dang you Phixion Link to comment
Phixion Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 Edit: Dang you Phixion Happens to me all the time too... Link to comment
TriggerHappyDude Posted February 26, 2009 Author Share Posted February 26, 2009 I am a noob, I didn't even know or think that salt doesn't evaporate, just water, DUH. Make sense now. Link to comment
Phixion Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 I am a noob, I didn't even know or think that salt doesn't evaporate, just water, DUH. Make sense now. Hey, we all had to learn it once ourselves, right? Link to comment
ChouDawg Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 On an uncovered tank would salt creep form on the lighting fixture due to evap? Wouldn't that salt creep be water + salt that has left the system? Link to comment
TriggerHappyDude Posted February 26, 2009 Author Share Posted February 26, 2009 On an uncovered tank would salt creep form on the lighting fixture due to evap? Wouldn't that salt creep be water + salt that has left the system? Thats a good question, or the salt creep on the corners of the tank etc? Link to comment
hcsceo Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 yes that salt does take away from the overall salinity however by putting in the same amount of water from evap daily it doesn't affect the salinity much at all. This is the advantage of Salinity monitors controlling ATO vs float switches as it will always put in just enough water to keep the salinity perfect. This is more of a problem on large tanks as they get less water changes than we do. Since you are taking care of water changes at the most every two weeks and hopefully weekly that lost salt to creep is negligilbe. You are talking about a couple of tablespoons of salt at the most lost to creep. Steve Link to comment
TriggerHappyDude Posted February 26, 2009 Author Share Posted February 26, 2009 That is helpful information as well. Thanks. I don't think I've heard of a salinity monitor controlling the ATO? Well maybe, the ReefKeeper Elite has a Salinity probe "coming soon", so I guess once that is available, one could turn on/off the ATO with that probe monitoring the salinity? This is going to sound like I'm wanting to be "lazy" but if you get the right controller and the right dosers is it possible that you don't have to do water changes very often? Such as the ATO is putting RO/DI water in the tank, and your dosers are dosing whatever chemicals the livestock is using up, could it be that your water changes are minimal? Link to comment
hcsceo Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 That is helpful information as well. Thanks.I don't think I've heard of a salinity monitor controlling the ATO? Well maybe, the ReefKeeper Elite has a Salinity probe "coming soon", so I guess once that is available, one could turn on/off the ATO with that probe monitoring the salinity? Exactly. I believe aquacontrollers except the JR have this now. Steve Link to comment
TriggerHappyDude Posted February 26, 2009 Author Share Posted February 26, 2009 Exactly. I believe aquacontrollers except the JR have this now. Steve But how does salinity help with lowering water levels? Would just monitoring the salinity of the water be enough to keep the water levels where you want them? Link to comment
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